La Vanità del Mondo: Oratorio Arias

Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky turns his attention to baroque Italian oratorio in this album released last fall. We’ll let the artist provide the context of this recording: 

It’s my belief that many composers from this period gave the best of themselves when called upon to set, for example, the great sacred histories of the Old Testament to music. Embodying in music a saint or even sometimes God himself calls for a stronger spiritual sense than do the amorous passions of some prince or queen...There was a deeper reflection on man’s place in the universe, which, for me, resonates all the more intensely in this year best by the pandemic. -- Philippe Jaroussky